Division of Thoracic Surgery, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy.
Tumori. 2022 Aug;108(4):357-363. doi: 10.1177/03008916211012760. Epub 2021 May 10.
Telemedicine, and particularly video-consulting, has rapidly accelerated since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak. The role of e-healthcare for the management of patients with lung diseases is evolving. We report the results of the initial experience of the SmartDoc Project, a telemedicine program activated in a cancer center (Istituto Nazionale Tumori) at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic onset in Italy.
The SmartDoc project was established to guarantee continuity of healthcare services for patients with lung cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The project was promoted within the National Health System to create a regulatory framework to authorize and reimburse telemedicine in its care delivery for all patients. At the end of the virtual meeting, patients were asked to answer an online survey.
From June 19 to December 1, 2020, 83 patients participated in the SmartDoc project and received a teleconsultation. The majority of patients were older than 65 years. Among the 83 televisits, 14 (16.9%) were new visits, 2 (2.4%) second opinions, 4 (4.8%) 30-day postsurgery controls, and 63 (75.9%) long-term follow-up visits. A "complete satisfaction" score (5 out of 5 points) was reported in 70.59% of all the respondents; most patients (76.5%) preferred video-consulting and defined it as better than or comparable to an in-person visit.
The favorable initial results of this study suggest that telemedicine should continue beyond the pandemic crisis and should be embedded in a more efficient and accessible healthcare system.
自 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行爆发以来，远程医疗，特别是视频咨询，迅速加速。电子医疗在肺病患者管理中的作用正在不断发展。我们报告了 SmartDoc 项目的初步经验，该项目是在意大利 COVID-19 大流行爆发的中心的一个癌症中心（Istituto Nazionale Tumori）启动的远程医疗计划。
SmartDoc 项目的建立是为了在 COVID-19 大流行危机期间保证肺癌患者的医疗服务连续性。该项目在国家卫生系统内推广，以创建一个监管框架，授权并报销其医疗服务中的远程医疗，适用于所有患者。在虚拟会议结束时，患者被要求在线回答一份调查。
从 2020 年 6 月 19 日至 12 月 1 日，83 名患者参加了 SmartDoc 项目并接受了远程咨询。大多数患者年龄在 65 岁以上。在 83 次电视访问中，有 14 次（16.9%）为新访问，2 次（2.4%）为第二意见，4 次（4.8%）为 30 天手术后的控制，63 次（75.9%）为长期随访。所有受访者中，有 70.59%的人报告了“完全满意”评分（5 分满分）；大多数患者（76.5%）更喜欢视频咨询，并认为它优于或与面对面咨询相当。
这项研究的初步积极结果表明，远程医疗应该在大流行危机之后继续，并应嵌入到更高效和更便捷的医疗保健系统中。
